Hello All! I am writing this in Lake Placid.
I still can't believe that I watched Evan and Yuna live and GOT BOTH OF THEIR AUTOGRAPHS!!! WOO HOO!!!

Ok. Let's get to the point.
As I was going through the thread, I realized that many of you question whether Yuna's score was inflated and that whether she deserved to even win.

I attended Yuna's official practice sessions, and on Saturday, she fell twice or so. Everyone was worried that she was either in a bad condition or she couldn't get used to the ice. Luckily she pulled through 007, but she really fell hard during the LP.... I guess it was kinda predictable that she was not in her best condition. However, her sp was just incredible... she clearly separated herself from the other skaters. (Not to mention how beautiful she was with her long slim legs and arms... she would smile at the audience during the performance, and it was just breathtakingly pretty!) She is in a class of her own. You just have to see it youself to believe it.

Yes, Rachael did a very good job in her LP, but can her perfect program match with Yuna's clean performance? No, absolutely not.
Rachael is shorter than Yuna (or it seems), and she is much much
slower than Yuna. When she does her triples, she does not go into the jump with as much speed as Yuna, and also the jumping height cannot match with Yuna's either. Moreover, many people criticize Yuna's spiral for her "ugly" foot and leg position, but you really don't feel that way when you see it. Yuna's spiral was by far the most impressive spiral of the competition. It is FAST, and she literally covers the entire ice.... NO ONE at the competition did anything like that, and everyone was clapping and cheering Yuna in amazement. In comparison, Rachael's spiral looked even less flexible and
both Rachael and Suguri's spiral sequences are really slow. (I thought Suguri was gonna stop in the middle of the ice)

In the end, I think the only ways to beat Yuna is 1) Yuna does really really bad and messes up BOTH her sp and LP or 2) A skater who can match with Yuna's speed and jumping height and better flexibility does a clean performance.

Because the audiences witnessed Yuna's incredible SP, no one that I knew or sat with (many of them were old skating fans) doubted Yuna's victory. All I heard was, "Oh she was fantastic last night, it is too bad she fell today."

In the end, I think the only ways to beat Yuna is 1) Yuna does really really bad and messes up BOTH her sp and LP or 2) A skater who can match with Yuna's speed and jumping height and better flexibility does a clean performance.

Because the audiences witnessed Yuna's incredible SP, no one that I knew or sat with (many of them were old skating fans) doubted Yuna's victory. All I heard was, "Oh she was fantastic last night, it is too bad she fell today."

Great post figurejennah. I especially agree with your statements above.

So far, ladies GP series have been rather underwhelming as a competition. SA may be the most. I hope that things go better at SC, final, and the Olympics. I am hoping that all the top ladies put it together.

For some weird reason, the CoP does not want to acknowledge the difficulty in executing elements in both directions. It interfere's with their scoring system, yet John Curry when auditioning skaters for his shows insisted that the cast be able to spin both ways. So the diffiulty winds up in show skating - not in the Sport. You figure.

Hello All! I am writing this in Lake Placid.
I still can't believe that I watched Evan and Yuna live and GOT BOTH OF THEIR AUTOGRAPHS!!! WOO HOO!!!

Ok. Let's get to the point.
As I was going through the thread, I realized that many of you question whether Yuna's score was inflated and that whether she deserved to even win.

I attended Yuna's official practice sessions, and on Saturday, she fell twice or so. Everyone was worried that she was either in a bad condition or she couldn't get used to the ice. Luckily she pulled through 007, but she really fell hard during the LP.... I guess it was kinda predictable that she was not in her best condition. However, her sp was just incredible... she clearly separated herself from the other skaters. (Not to mention how beautiful she was with her long slim legs and arms... she would smile at the audience during the performance, and it was just breathtakingly pretty!) She is in a class of her own. You just have to see it youself to believe it.

Yes, Rachael did a very good job in her LP, but can her perfect program match with Yuna's clean performance? No, absolutely not.
Rachael is shorter than Yuna (or it seems), and she is much much
slower than Yuna. When she does her triples, she does not go into the jump with as much speed as Yuna, and also the jumping height cannot match with Yuna's either. Moreover, many people criticize Yuna's spiral for her "ugly" foot and leg position, but you really don't feel that way when you see it. Yuna's spiral was by far the most impressive spiral of the competition. It is FAST, and she literally covers the entire ice.... NO ONE at the competition did anything like that, and everyone was clapping and cheering Yuna with amazement. In comparison, Rachael's spiral looked even less flexible and
both Rachael and Suguri's spiral sequences are really slow. (I thought Suguri was gonna stop in the middle of the ice)

In the end, I think the only ways to beat Yuna is 1) Yuna does really really bad and messes up BOTH her sp and LP or 2) A skater who can match with Yuna's speed and jumping height and better flexibility does a clean performance.

Because the audiences witnessed Yuna's incredible SP, no one that I knew or sat with (many of them were old skating fans) doubted Yuna's victory. All I heard was, "Oh she was fantastic last night, it is too bad she fell today."

Thanks for your report. I agree - Rachael has the worst spiral I can recall seeing from an American lady in years. Her spins looked slow and sloppy to.
Hard to believe she is considered the best in USA right now.
Sasha please show up for Nationals

CoP has made much of figure skating unwatchable for me, as it has hurt the artistic aspect of the sport so much. Yu-Na is a skater whom I always look forward to watching, because she is able to create beauty on the ice while satisfying the point-accumulating nature of CoP with technical excellence. I believe that she is under tremendous pressure, because she is so good at what she does. No one can score 100% in an academic exam every time, for example, without realizing that there is nowhere to go but down, and the fear can grow and grow. Sometimes it is good to do less well, and find out that it is not the end of the world, after all. The live audience, I think, showed her that she was just as loved and appreciated as she had been the day before

i am sorry but i didn't watch it on tv, skate america why- i knew who would come in first in all disciplines.
so i watch part on youtube.
to tell the truth- i was going to nitpick rachel scores to see who/if they cheated for her. But I was impressed she skated well.
the only problem i have is with maybe her lutz takeoff,maybe a warning call. she switch edges, and her triple. double, double i would have downgraded mom thought the triple after that.should have been downgraded also, because she looked tired and her jumps and the rest of program fell flat. But she did skate good, i can see why they gave her that score > me probably a 113.

I have a question in the USA Today paper Tom mentioned a skater reaches maximum potential at the 1 1/2 minute mark and it is down from there.
Does all skaters train for 1 1/2 min and rely rest on leftovers or do some condition their bodies for more than that.
to me is seems that is the problem with rachel she is good for the first minute and half and after that her speed and artistry lacks, if she is conditioned for more than that minute and half maybe she would be more of a threat--

yu-na i hope skates better-but she seemed her concentration left after her first jumping pass. yu- probable a 108-111.

For some weird reason, the CoP does not want to acknowledge the difficulty in executing elements in both directions. It interfere's with their scoring system, yet John Curry when auditioning skaters for his shows insisted that the cast be able to spin both ways. So the diffiulty winds up in show skating - not in the Sport. You figure.

I agree, it seems like it should be better rewarded. I like watching those!